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500 BCE
Chinese Calculator
Invented in the Middle East at around 500 BC, the abacus remained the fastest form of a calculator until the 17th century. -
Not really a computer, but a vital part of the process.
Created by Wilhelm Schickard, this gear-powered German device pump machine pulled and pushed rods inside a glass case. Not very useful now, but it would later help power the Difference Engine. -
Putting that pump to good use
Charles Babbage develops a steam-powered calculating machine that was able to compute multiple sets of numbers and print them out as well. This machine is known as the Difference Machine. -
A machine that punches cards?
Herman Hollerith designs a punch card system to calculate the 1880 census, accomplishing the task in just three years and saving the government $5 million. Later, he establishes a company that would eventually become what we know today as IBM. -
Very important central concept
Alan Turing proposes the Turing machine, a universal machine that was capable of computing anything that was ... well ... computable. The machine imitated a real person obeying a series of logical instructions. -
The dude still lives in his parents' house
Konrad Zuse created the Z1 in his parents' living room. Now the computers are starting to function like modern computers. -
HP is founded in a garage
Hewlett-Packard is founded by David Packard and Bill Hewlett -
Now the computer has memory
Atanasoff and Clifford Berry design a computer that is able to solve 29 equations simultaneously. This is the first time a computer is able to store information on its main memory. -
It's just a really big calculator
The Harvard Mark-1 computer is a really big calculator driven by a camshaft with no stored programs, but it resembles a modern computer than the others before it. This massive computer filled a large room. -
Grandfather of digital computers
The Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator (ENIAC) was built by John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert. ENIAC filled a 20-foot by 40-foot room and used nearly 20,000 vacuum tubes. -
Now the computer can store programs
EDSAC is considered to be the first stored program computer. -
Now the computer can store and run a program from memory
The UNIVAC 1101 or ERA 1101 is considered to be the first computer that could of store and run a program from memory. -
Computers can now talk to each other
Grace Hopper develops the first computer language, known as COBOL. -
IBM trying to make it rain
IBM publicly introduces the 701, its first commercial scientific computer. -
Why have one language when you can have two?
The FORTRAN programming language is developed by a team of programmers at IBM led by John Backus. -
Now the computer has RAM (which is basically memory)
MIT introduces the Whirlwind machine. This computer was the first digital computer with RAM and real-time graphics. -
Chips are nice
Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce unveil a integrated circuit, which is a computer chip. -
Intel has it all
The newly formed Intel unveils the Intel 1103, the first Dynamic Access Memory (DRAM) chip. -
Internet with wires!
Robert Metcalfe develops Ethernet, which connects multiple computers and other hardware together. -
And here comes Microsoft
Paul Allen and Bill Gates write software using the new BASIC language. On April 4, the two childhood friends form their own software company, Microsoft. -
A 55 pounds computer is said to be "portable"
The IBM 5100 is the first portable computer. The computer weighed 55 pounds and had a five inch CRT display, tape drive, 1.9 MHz PALM processor, and 64 KB of RAM. -
A company named after a fruit
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak roll out the Apple I, the first computer with a single-circuit board. -
Getting a bit more "portable"
A lighter computer was developed and released by Adam Osborne. The Osborne I weighed 24.5 pounds, had a 5-inch display, 64 KB of memory, and two 5 1/4" floppy drives. -
PC becomes something
The first IBM personal computer is introduced (PC = personal computer). It uses Microsoft's MS-DOS operating system. It features an Intel chip, two floppy disks and an optional color monitor. -
Websites popping out
The first dot-com domain name is registered. The Symbolics Computer Company registers Symbolics.com. Two years later, only 100 dot-coms had been registered. -
And the rivalry begins
Microsoft announces Windows as a response to Apple's GUI. -
The rise of the Internet
Tim Berners-Lee develops HyperText Markup Language (HTML), giving rise to the World Wide Web. -
The competition continues
Microsoft releases Windows 3 to compete with Apple's Macintosh. It also introduced Solitaire. -
Intel kicking it up a notch
The Pentium microprocessor improves graphics and music on computers. -
Google knows everything
Sergey Brin and Larry Page develop the Google search engine. -
Who needs wires?
Wi-Fi becomes something we use daily we can finally begin to connecting to Internet without wires. -
Nice one Windows!
Arguably one of the best Windows versions, Windows XP was able to bring Microsoft’s enterprise line and consumer line of operating systems together. It was the longest running Microsoft operating system and is estimated to still be used in 130 million computers today -
A new challenger for Intel
The first 64-bit processor, AMD's Athlon 64, becomes available to the consumer market. -
A book with faces?
Facebook, a social networking site, launches. -
A new challenger appears
Mozilla's Firefox 1.0 challenges the current dominant Web browser, Microsoft Internet Explorer. -
Youtube is here
Youtube is founded. Google purchases Android. -
Good one Apple
Apple introduces the MacBook Pro as well as an Intel-based iMac. -
Getting there Windows
Windows 7 was intended to fix problems and criticism received by Vista. It was faster and easier to use. -
Windows 8
Windows 8 is faster than previous versions of Windows, for obvious reasons. The Windows Store, which offers universal Windows apps, was introduced. Programs could still be installed from third-parties though. However, many did not like the new design and interface. -
Hey what happened to 9?
Windows 10 is the newest operating system that Windows has today. It features the ability to switch between keyboard and tablet mode, because people today have tablets. -
